Holders for containers

ABSTRACT

A holder of the kind which is snapped on the rimmed end of an article, which holder comprises an end wall for disposing adjacent to one end of a rimmed article, two side members connected to the end wall for disposing at opposite sides of the article and having rim-holding means for holding the rim formed at said end of said article, two tie walls connected to the side members and inwardly directed therefrom and directed towards said end wall and having openings for receiving the portion of the article which is adjacent to the rim, and two strut walls connected to the tie walls and disposed beside said end wall, each tie wall being divided by a folding line spaced from the side member and the strut wall which are connected to the tie wall. Each of the side members may comprise an inner side wall connected to the adjacent strut wall and an outer side wall which is connected to the end wall and to the adjacent tie wall, the inner side walls being provided with the rim-holding means.

United States Patent Lawrence 1 Oct. 31, 1972 [54] HOLDERS FOR CONTAINERS Primary ExaminerGeorge E. Lowrance [72] Inventor: Frank D. Lawrence, 387 Chickerell Exafmnerasteghen Garbe Road weymouth Dorset England Attorney-Michael S. Str ker [22] Filed: May 14, 1970- [57] ABSTRACT [21] Appl. No.: 37,088 A holder of the kind which is snapped on the rimmed end of an article, which holder comprises an end wall for disposing adjacent to one end of a rimmed article, [30] Forms Application Priority two side members connected to the end wall for May 30, 1969 Great Britai 27,438/69 disposing at opposite sides of the article and having May 30, 19 9 Great Britain"; 27 43,959 rim-holding means for holding the rim fonned at said end of said article, two tie walls connected to the side 52 1. us. (:1. ..206/65 0, 294/872 members and inwardly directed therefrom and I [51 Int. Cl. ..B65d 61/00 directed towards Said and Wall and m P 5 i of S h 20 5 C, 5 E; 294, 71; for receiving the POl'tiOtl 0f the article which iS ad- 220/115 116 jacent to the rim, and two strut walls connected to the p tie walls and disposed beside said end wall, each tie wall being divided by a folding line spaced from the [56] References Cited side member and the strut wall which are connected UNITED STATES PATENTS to the tie wall. Each of the side members may comprise an inner side wall connected to the adjacent strut 3,005,654 10/ 1961 Stone et a1. ..206/65 C n and an outer side wall which is connected to the 3,414,313 12/1968 Schwarz ..294/87.2

end wall and to the adjacent tie wall, the inner side walls being provided with the rim-holding means.

10 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PATENTED am a 1 I972 SHEET '2 or 4 INVENTOR kw Maren; 5y

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SHEET 3 nr 4 nvvsrvfon Fan 95w Lida-wee" A TTORNE Y PATENTED mm 3 1 I972 SHEET DF 4 ATT RNEY HOLDERS FOR CONTAINERS This invention relates to a holder for at least one article with a rimmed end, e.g., a can containing beer, soft drink or a food product. In particular, the invention relates to such a holder which is intended to hold a plurality of identical articles with rimmed ends in adjacent relationship to one another.

Folded cardboard holders are known which comprise side walls in which edges are provided for the reception of a plurality of cans, these holders often being of the kind that is disposed at the tops of a plurality of cans in a single row. Some holders of this kind are strong structurally but cannot be very quickly applied to the cans or require time-consuming preparations before the holder is applied to the cans. Other holders of this kind can be quickly applied to the cans with little or no preparation but are not very strong structurally.

An object of the present invention is to provide a holder for at least one article with a rimmed end which is structurally strong and which may be quickly prepared for application on the rimmed article and quickly applied on the rimmed article.

According to the invention, a holder of the kind which is snapped on the rimmed end of an article comprises an end wall for disposing adjacent to one end ofa rimmed article, two side members connected to the end wall for disposing at opposite sides of said article and having rim-holding means for holding the rim formed at said end of said article two tie walls connected to the side members and inwardly directed therefrom and directed towards said end wall and having openings, for receiving the portion of said article which is adjacent to said rim, and two strut walls connected to said tie walls and disposed beside said end wall, each tie wall being divided by a folding line spaced from the side member and the strut wall which are connected to said tie wall.

The holder accordingto the invention is economical in 'material and can be made from a single sheet of cardboard or other suitable sheet material. The holder may be applied to rimmed articles by hand or by machine in a simple and speedy manner and it can be delivered to the packer in a flattened form which facilitates storing and transportation of the holder.

One embodiment of a holder in accordance with the invention will now be described by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which FIG. 1 is a plan of a blank of cardboard for making an embodiment of the holder for holding three identical right-circular cylindrical cans arranged side-by-side in a single row, a 1

FIG. 2 is a plan ofa holder viewed from underneath, the holder having been folded from the blank of FIG. 1 into a flattened form for storing and transportation,

FIG. 3 is an end view of the holder of FIG. 2 partly erected from the flattened form,

FIG. 4 is an end view of the holder of FIG. 3 erected for applying on to the row of cans,

FIG. 5 is an end view of the holder of FIG. 4 applied on the row of cans, and

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the holder of FIG. 5 applied on the row of cans.

In the ensuing description, in order to explain in a simple way the application of the holder on to the cans, the holder is applied downwardly on to the upper parts of the cans. However, it will be appreciated that the holder can be applied on the bottom ends of the cans and also that the holder may be applied on to the cans in any convenient direction.

The blank 1 shown in FIG. 1 is of rectangular shape, has a top surface 30 and the distance across the blank between the side edges 19 and 20 thereof is substantially equal to three times the rim diameter of the cans to be packaged in a holder made from the blank. The blank is divided into nine end-to-end connected panels by eight parallel folding lines 11, 12, l3, l4, l5, l6, l7 and 18 disposed at right angles to the side edges 19 and 20 and disposed parallel to the end edges 22 and 23 of the blank. The series of panels form in the finished holder, two inner side walls 2 and 10, two strut walls 3 and 9, two wall means or tie walls 4 and 8, two outer side walls 5 and 7 and an end wall 6. The end wall 6 is divided longitudinally into three end wall portions 6a, 6b and 60 by additional folding Iines'14a and 14b which are disposed parallel to the folding lines 14 and 15. Adjacent each end wall portion is a side member which includes one inner side wall 2, 10, or holding means, and one outer side wall 5, 7. The tie wall 4 is divided longitudinally into two tie wall portions 4e and 4f by an additional folding line 12a which is disposed parallel to the folding line 12. Similarly, the tie wall 8 is divided longitudinally into two tie wall portions 8e and 8f by an additional folding line 16a which is disposed parallel to the folding line 16.

In each of the inner side walls 2 and 10 there are formed three rim-receiving slots 27, each defined by a rim-holding edge 27a, two short edges 27b and an edge 27c disposed opposite to the rim-holding edge 27a. Each of the tie walls 4 and 8 is provided with three body-receiving openings 28. Each opening 28 is defined by a cut edge 29, which consists of two spacedapart parallel straight parts 29a and 29b connected by two opposite curved parts 290.

The blank of FIG. 1 is used to make a holder with glued connections in a flattened form suitable for storing and transportation as shown in FIG. 2. FIG. 3 shows the holder which is made from the blank of FIG. 1 partly erected from the flat form. The surface of the blank opposite to the top surface 30 of the blank will be referred to hereafter as the under surface and isdesignated 31 in FIGS. 2 5.

To convert the blank of FIG. 1 into the glued holder of flattened form shown in FIG. 2, the following operations may be carried out: the inner side wall 2 is folded about the folding line 11 to bring the under surface 31 of the inner side wall 2 on to the under surface 31 of the strut wall 3; the tie wall portion 4e is folded about the folding line 12a to bring the top surface 30 of the inner side wall 2 on to the under surface 31 of the outer side wall 5; the outer side wall 5 is folded about the folding line 14 to bring the top surface 30 of the strut wall 3 on to the under siirface 31 of the end wall portion 6a, these surfaces of the strut wall 3 and the end wall portion 6a being glued together; and, similarly, the inner side wall 10, the tie wall portion 82 and the outer side wall 7 are folded about the folding lines 18, 16a and 15 respectively and the top surface 30 of the strut wall 9 is glued to the under surface 31 of the end wall portion 6c.

To erect the holder from the flattened form for its application on to the row of cans in one quick and easy operation, the inner side walls 2 and 10 are spread apart, two stages in this operation being shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4. As can be seen in FIG. 4, the end wall portion 60 has hinged about the folding line 14b and the end wall portion 6a has hinged about the folding line 14a allowing the inner side walls 2 and 10 to spread apart sufficiently for the holder to be placed over the upper ends of three cans with the upper parts of the cans entering the openings 28 in the tie walls 4 and 8. When the holder has thus been placed over the upper parts of the cans, it may be applied on the cans as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 by simply pushing the end wall portions 60 and 6c downwardly until the rim-holding edges 27a in the inner side walls 2 and 10 snap past the rims R of the cans C into the rim holding position as shown in FlG.5.

' The holder described in detail above has the strut walls joined to the end wall portions by means of glue but it will be appreciated that other adhesives or other fastening means could be 'used instead of glue.

Although the holder described in'detail above is made for packaging three cans in a row, it will be appreciated that similar holders may be made for packaging one, two, four or more cans in a row.

Although a particular embodiment of a holder has been described in detail above, it must be appreciated that the invention is not limited to this particular holder.

The invention includes the blank from which the holder is formed, the holder in the flattened form and a holder according to the invention with one or more rimmed articles packaged therein.

lclaim:

l. A holder of the kind which is snapped on the rimmed end of an article, comprising an end wall disposable adjacent one end of the rimmed article; holding means formed with slots and connected to said end wall and movable from a first position permitting the insertion of a rim at one end of an article into said slots of said holding means to a second position for holding said rimmed end; and wall means connected to said holding means and to said end wall and having openings for receiving a portion of said article, and said wall means impeding the movement of said holding means from said second to said first position after said rim has been inserted into said slots of said holding means and the latter has been moved to said second position, the openings of said wall means being disposed between the slots of said holding means.

2. A holder of the kind which is snapped on the rimmed end of an article, comprising an end wall to be disposed adjacent one end of the rimmed article; two side members connected to said end wall to be disposed at opposite sides of said article; two tie walls connected to said side members and inwardly located therefrom and directed towards said end wall, each tie wall having an opening for receiving a portion of said article which is adjacent a laterally outwardly projecting rim formed at-said one end of said article; and two additional walls connected to said tie walls and disposed along said end wall, each tie wall being divided by a fold line spaced from the side member and the additional wall which is connected to said tie wall, each of said side members comprising a side wall provided with a rim-holding edge for holding said laterally outwardly projecting rim.

3. A holder as claimed in claim 2, wherein each of said side members comprises a further side wall which is connected to said end wall and to the adjacent tie wall.

4. A holder as claimed in claim 3, wherein each of the first-mentioned side walls is connected to the adjacent additional wall.

5. A holder as claimed in claim 2, wherein each of said additional walls is secured to said end wall.

6. A holder as claimed in claim 5, wherein each of said additional walls is glued to said end wall.

7. A holder as claimed in claim 2, wherein said end wall is divided by a folding line spaced from said side members to form an end wall portion adjacent one of said side members to facilitate the positioning of the holder over said end of said article.

8. A holder as claimed in claim 7, wherein said end wall is divided by two parallel folding lines to form separate end wall portions adjacent the side members to facilitate the positioning of the holder over said end of said article.

9. A holder as claimed in claim 2, wherein the holder is in a flattened form, parts of each tie wall being folded about the folding line which divides said tie wall.

10. A holder as claimed in claim 2, wherein at least one rimmed article is engaged by the holder. 

1. A holder of the kind which is snapped on the rimmed end of an article, comprising an end wall disposable adjacent one end of the rimmed article; holding means formed with slots and connected to said end wall and movable from a first position permitting the insertion of a rim at one end of an article into said slots of said holding means to a second position for holding said rimmed end; and wall means connected to said holding means and to said end wall and having openings for receiving a portion of said article, and said wall means impeding the movement of said holding means from said second to said first position after said rim has been inserted into said slots of said holding means and the latter has been moved to said second position, the openings of said wall means being disposed between the slots of said holding means.
 2. A holder of the kind which is snapped on the rimmed end of an article, comprising an end wall to be disposed adjacent one end of the rimmed article; two side members connected to said end wall to be disposed at opposite sides of said article; two tie walls connected to said side members and inwardly located therefrom and directed towards said end wall, each tie wall having an opening for receiving a portion of said article which is adjacent a laterally outwardly projecting rim formed at said one end of said article; and two additional walls connected to said tie walls and disposed along said end wall, each tie wall being divided by a fold line spaced from the side member and the additional wall which is connected to said tie wall, each of said side members comprising a side wall provided with a rim-holding edge for holding said laterally outwardly projecting rim.
 3. A holder as claimed in claim 2, wherein each of said side members comprises a further side wall which is connected to said end wall and to the adjacent tie wall.
 4. A holder as claimed in claim 3, wherein each of the first-mentioned sIde walls is connected to the adjacent additional wall.
 5. A holder as claimed in claim 2, wherein each of said additional walls is secured to said end wall.
 6. A holder as claimed in claim 5, wherein each of said additional walls is glued to said end wall.
 7. A holder as claimed in claim 2, wherein said end wall is divided by a folding line spaced from said side members to form an end wall portion adjacent one of said side members to facilitate the positioning of the holder over said end of said article.
 8. A holder as claimed in claim 7, wherein said end wall is divided by two parallel folding lines to form separate end wall portions adjacent the side members to facilitate the positioning of the holder over said end of said article.
 9. A holder as claimed in claim 2, wherein the holder is in a flattened form, parts of each tie wall being folded about the folding line which divides said tie wall.
 10. A holder as claimed in claim 2, wherein at least one rimmed article is engaged by the holder. 